Today's political diary: Wednesday, May 17

Scottish Parliament

Today’s business includes:

• Portfolio Questions: Constitution, External Affairs and Culture; Justice and Home Affairs
• Scottish Labour Party Debate: Access to Bus Services
• Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee Debate: Standards, Procedures and Public Appointments Committee’s 10^th Report, 2023 (Session 6)
• Decision Time
• Members’ Business: S6M-07769 National Lyme Disease Awareness Month (in the name of Evelyn Tweed)

The following Committees are meeting this morning:

• Rural Affairs and Islands Committee
• Citizen Participation and Public Petitions Committee
• Criminal Justice Committee
• Education, Children and Young People Committee
• Economy and Fair Work Committee

UK Parliament

Today’s business includes:

• Oral Questions: Scotland
• Prime Minister’s Question Time
• Ten Minute Rule Motion: Artificial Intelligence (Regulation and Workers’ Rights)
• Legislation: Digital Markets, Competition and Consumers Bill: Second Reading
• Westminster Hall debate: Public Bodies and VAT
• Westminster Hall debate: Food price inflations and food banks
• Oral Questions (Lords): Preparations for COP28 and which Minister will have responsibility for representing the UK at the negotiations
• Legislation (Lords): Retained EU Law (Revocation and Reform) Bill – report stage (day 2)
• Grand Committee Debate: Report from the European Affairs Committee: ‘The UK-EU relationship in financial services’
• Work and Pensions Committee – Oral evidence session on Benefit levels in the UK
• Defence Sub-Committee – Oral evidence session on Defence Equipment and Support
• Science, Innovation and Technology Committee – Oral evidence session on UK space strategy and UK satellite infrastructure
• Constitution Committee – Private meeting
• Environment and Climate Change Committee – Private meeting
• Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Committee – Private meeting
• European Scrutiny Committee – Oral evidence session on PESCO and UK-EU Defence Cooperation
• Women and Equalities Committee – Oral evidence session on National Disability Strategy
• Treasury Committee – Oral evidence session on Tax Reliefs
• Defence Committee – Oral evidence session on Aviation Procurement

Aberdeenshire Council

Today’s business includes:

• Sustainability Committee

Aberdeen City Council

Today’s business includes:

• Finance and Resources Committee

News/Funding/Consultations

• Consultation: New National Parks – appraisal framework. One of the priority actions contained within the draft Biodiversity Strategy is the designation of a new National Park within Scotland. This consultation is seeking views and comments on the associated appraisal framework and the selection criteria to be used in determining the successful applicant park. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 4^th August.
• Consultation: Local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods: draft planning guidance. The fourth National Planning Framework (NPF4) sets out a clear commitment to think differently about our places, putting climate and nature at the forefront, tackling long standing challenges and inequalities, and leading the transition to stronger, greener, fairer and healthier communities across Scotland. A key element of this agenda is the need to plan, design and deliver places that support local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods, where people can meet the majority of their daily needs within a reasonable distance of their home. Delivering local living and 20 minute neighbourhoods requires an understanding of the specific context of a place. Whatever the context - cities, town, village, rural and island communities - the views and interests of local people must be at the forefront of the decisions made about a place. The Scottish Government is therefore consulting on the draft planning guidance in relation to this. For more information or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 20^th July.
• DEADLINE APPROACHING: Consultation: Offshore hydrogen regulation. This consultation proposes and seeks views on plans for secondary legislation to extend offshore oil and gas pipeline construction & use consenting responsibility of the NSTA to also apply to hydrogen pipelines. This consultation also proposes to extend certain decommissioning regulations to apply to relevant hydrogen activities, and grants the NSTA powers to issue hydrogen storage licenses. As a consequence of these proposals, the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero (DESNZ) and the Offshore Petroleum Regulator for Environment and Decommissioning (OPRED) would be responsible for relevant offshore environmental impact assessments and habitats assessments prior to the NSTA granting relevant approval(s). For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 22^nd May.
• DEADLINE APPROACHING: Consultation: Planning for new energy infrastructure: revised draft National Policy Statements. The energy National Policy Statements (NPS) set out the government’s policy for the delivery of energy infrastructure and provide the legal framework for planning decisions. The re-consultation seeks views on: clarifying that offshore wind is now a critical national priority; the offshore wind environmental improvement package, designed to help accelerate deployment of offshore wind; strengthening the electricity networks NPS ; and updating the civil and military aviation and defence interests to reflect the status of energy developments, the impacts and how these should be managed. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 25^th May.
• Consultation: Council tax on second and empty homes/Non-domestic rates. The Scottish Government is consulting on proposals to assist councils in making the best use of existing housing in their areas. This includes managing the numbers of short-term lets, second and long-term empty homes, where these are causing issues. This consultation focuses on a number of potential changes to taxation policy in order to aid this management. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 11^th July.
• Consultation: National Event Strategy review and refresh – Scotland: the perfect stage. Scotland’s national events strategy was first published in 2008 in response to Scotland’ burgeoning potential as a global leader in the events industry. Although Scotland has had many successes under the current strategy the events sector has recently faced a period of unprecedented disruption and challenges and therefore it is being reviewed and updated. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 30^th June.
• Consultation: Prescribing the minimum annual number of learning hours. Traditionally, Scottish primary schools provide around 25 learning hours per week, and Scottish secondary schools around 27.5 hours per week. However, while local authorities are required to have their schools open for 190 days each year, the number of learning hours is not prescribed. The Scottish Government is now consulting on whether there should be a legal minimum number of hours of school education that pupils should receive every year. For more information, or to respond to the consultation, please click here. The closing date for responses is 13^th June.

• Support/Training: The Princes Trust Explore Enterprise Course. The Prince’s Trust Explore Enterprise Course consists of up to seven online sessions providing information and support on the basics of self-employment, HMRC and finance, pricing and sales, marketing, networking, cashflows, and business plans. These sessions are open to individuals aged between 18-30, who are resident in Scotland and been trading for less than 2 years. For more information, or to sign up, please click here.
• Support/Funding: UK Tradeshow Programme. The UK Tradeshow Programme offers government support to help UK businesses attend or exhibit at overseas trade shows more effectively. For more information, or to apply, please click here.

• Funding: Heat Network Fund. This Scottish Government fund encourages commercial interest and investment that will help make the most of Scotland's vast potential in the low carbon sector and contribute to the positive progress already made in reducing Scotland's greenhouse gas emissions. Eligible projects must be large-scale and based in Scotland. As well as helping reduce emissions, successful projects should also have positive social and economic benefits for Scotland. For more information or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Marine Fund Scotland. This fund will support investments and jobs in seafood sectors, the marine environment and coastal communities in Scotland. It replaces the European Maritime and Fisheries Fund (EMFF) following the UK’s exit from the EU. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: ETZ Ltd Challenge Fund. The ETZ Ltd's Challenge Fund supports high-growth potential companies across North-east Scotland's energy sector to enter the low-carbon industry, awarding grant funding between £50k and £250k to accelerate innovation and market entry, support business growth, and create new jobs in the energy transition into the low-carbon market. The fund will primarily support SMEs servicing the oil and gas market in Aberdeen City, Aberdeenshire and Moray to transition to new or existing opportunities in green energy. For more information or to apply, please click here. The closing date for applications is early June.
• Funding: Feasibility Funding (Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre). The Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre (IBioIC)'s Feasibility projects provide members with the opportunity to tap into the expertise of Scotland’s academics to assist with a biotech-focused proof of concept study to support a future funding application for a larger scale research work programme. Feasibility projects should focus on innovative applications of industrial biotechnology and address a real market need or commercial opportunity through collaborative knowledge exchange and research between industry members and at least one of Scotland’s talented higher education institution (HEI) research teams. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Workforce Innovation Voucher. The Workforce Innovation Voucher scheme can be used to support innovation to develop a company’s workforce in partnership with a college or university – for example, a new or enhanced workplace business processes, workplace practice or innovative business expertise. Interface provides support with finding a suitable academic partner who has the right specialist expertise to progress your Research and Development project. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: National Lottery Open Fund of Organisations – Creative Scotland. The National Lottery Open Fund for Organisations is a funding programme for artistic, creative and cultural organisations based in Scotland. Organisations can apply for between £1,000 and £100,000 to support creative activity that lasts up to 18 months. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: National Lottery Extended Programme Fund – Creative Scotland. The National Lottery Extended Programme Fund is a time-limited funding programme for non-profit artistic, creative and cultural organisations based in Scotland. Organisations can apply for between £100,000 and £200,000 for programmes of creative activity that last between 18 and 24 months. For more information, or to apply, please click here. Deadline to apply is 14^th November.
• Funding: Flexible Workforce Development Fund. The Flexible Workforce Development Fund (FWDF) helps employers in Scotland access workforce training opportunities to upskill or reskill their employees. Eligible employers can get up to £15,000 in funding for tailored training programmes. Applications will be accepted up until the 31^st July or whenever the fund has been fully allocated, if earlier. For more information, or to apply, please click here.
• Funding: Green Heat Innovation Support Programme. The Green Heat Innovation Support Programme provides grant funding, competitive procurement and other forms of support to help Scottish-based companies or companies looking to invest in Scotland develop innovative products, services or business models that address the challenges of green heating. For more information, or to apply, please click here.